The one notetaker that I know where each note is a file is aignes' AM-noteboom (http://aignes.com/notebook.htm However the search function is poor.

Does anyone know any notetaker/PIM that uses the filesystem and has powerful search?
It must show a list of hits as I type, with the matches in the text highlighted (like evernote does).
File format doesn't matter, rtf, html is fine.

I want to use the filesystem because, together with wuala, this should be useful for collaboration. A shared wuala folder, with notifications when someone adds or edits a file, is a very nice way to work together.

I've been trying both ResophNotes and Zim Desktop Wiki; both have the ability to work with plain text files as their storage, and good full-text search too as you request. See what you think.

Agree about AM-Notebook - potentially very good, but search is slo-o-o-ow.

Another great solution is KeepNote (freebie). Stores notes as separate HTML files, so you can have quite sophisticated notes. The basic search function is actually pretty quick, but you can accelerate it still further by installing SQLite (details on website: rasmuss.org). It's also a cross-platform app, but has a remarkably small footprint.

Many text editors also allow you to work directly with records in the file system. The obvious example is NoteTab (I use it alongside WriteUp on my iOS devices to synchronise notes rapidly between PC and iPad/iPhone via good ole' Dropbox), but there are plenty of others, too (check out alternativeto.net for lots more ideas; use e.g. UltraEdit as a starting point).

I like Zim, but I haven't encountered ResophNotes - and I find it supports Markdown! Very interesting. Could revolutionize my fast, cross-platform note-taking experience!

Cheers,
Bill

Actually, that's very nearly absolutely perfect! ResophNotes finds all my WriteUp notes without problems - doesn't recognise folders, but does drill down into subfolders and show all text notes. And it's got a nice little search function (rather better than WriteUp's, in fact).

What a great find! Thanks very much!

Rats! No, not absolutely perfect after all - unfortunately it trashes the folder structure (or rather, it extracts all subfolder content and copies it to the top level/root folder. Shame. I use folders rather than tagging, by preference. Ah well. Maybe in a few months time (that's the nice thing about software!).

Moving a little way away from notetakers and/or outliners, you might also want to look at Soonr (www.soonr.com), which offers a file synchronisation service with extra features - notably full-text search, project management, document preview and the ability to edit office documents on e.g. iOS devices.

It's very powerful, and the low-end option (3 users + 2 external users) is very modestly priced.

Cheers,
Bill

You might also want to take a good, hard look at TiddlyWiki. I haven't played with tiddlywiki for a long time, but it's still evolving, and it's easier than ever to set up a hosted tiddlywiki service with local synchronisation. I've also just discovered a very nice, professional tiddlywiki editor that runs on iOS (TWEdit), allowing you to keep local and server-based files updated from your iPad or iPhone. The search function is very powerful, of course, and there are now so many plugins you can turn TiddlyWiki into more or less anything you like!

I use TiddlyWiki, and have a post explaining the learning curve here: http://www.cyborganize.org/productivity/software/tiddlywiki-installation/

Also, Emacs Org Mode doesn't so much use the file system as replace it, and it has more search functionality than you will ever need. See Xah Lee's Emacs site to get started.

Jose Quesada wrote:

Does
anyone know any notetaker/PIM that uses the filesystem and has powerful search?

Well, a new candidate has just arrived to the forum: Outwiker http://jenyay.net/Outwiker/English

I couldn't resist the temptation to make the cross-reference :-)
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3166